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Moon exploration

Photo of the moon taken by Ranger IX

Television picture taken by Ranger IX prior to impact on March 24, 1965 at 06 08 20 PST. View with shadows to the left. North is at the top. Frame # last full B frame. Camera B. Time: 5.5 seconds before impact. Spacecraft altitude about Moon 8.3 miles. Dimensions 1.6 miles by 1.4 miles. Remarks: Show several major shallow depressions with numerous dimple craters and fine structure in shadowed area. Smallest craters shown are approximately 30 feet in diameter.

Photo of the moon taken by Ranger IX

Television picture taken by Ranger IX prior to impact on March 24, 1965 at 06 08 20 PST. View with shadows to the left. North is at the top. Frame #35. Camera A. Time: 2 minutes 50 seconds before impact. Spacecraft altitude above Moon 258 miles. Dimensions 121 miles by 109 miles. Remarks: Alphonsus fills right half of picture, Alpetragius is near lower left with broad central mountain and Davy A is in the top left corner. The floor of Alphonsus shows intricate pattern of ridges and rilles. Eight craters with dark patches are seen near crater wall.

Photo of the moon taken by Ranger IX

Television picture taken by Ranger IX prior to impact on March 24, 1965 at 06 08 20 PST. View with shadows to the left. North is at the top. Frame #110 frames from the last. Camera B. Time 9 minutes 18 seconds before impact. Spacecraft altitude above Moon is 775 miles. Dimensions 147 miles by 123 miles. Remarks: Shows slightly more than half of the three major craters; Ptolemasus at the top with central peak, Aphonsus on the left with rile system and a central peak that rises 3,300 feet above floor and Albategnius with 4,500 feet central peak.

Ranger Moon photography satellites

Washington -- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is preparing two spacecraft for launch on the final missions of the Ranger Moon photography program. The eighth and ninth Rangers, designated Rangers C and D, will be launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida, by Atlas Agena B launch vehicles. If successfully launched, they will be named Rangers VIII and IX. Objectives are to provide further scientific information on the Moon's surface as well as lunar topographical data in support of the Surveyor soft lander program and the Apollo manned landing program.

Drawing of Ranger spacecraft

Washington - An artist's concept of a Ranger spacecraft photographing the Moon before impact. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is preparing the Ranger spacecraft for launch for the final mission of the Ranger Moon photography program. The sixth Ranger, designated Ranger D, will be launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida, by an Atlas-Agena launch vehicle. If successfully launched it will be named Ranger IX.

Moon surface photo taken with Lunar Orbiter V

This wide angle western looking oblique photograph was taken by Lunar Orbiter V on August 10, 1967, when it was 60 miles above the lunar surface. The elongated crater Messier is in the foreground. It is about 8 miles long, six miles wide, and about 4,000 feet deep. In back of it is the crater Messier A which is about 8 miles in diameter. These craters are located at 47 degrees East longitude and 2 degrees South latitude on the floor or Mare Fecunditatis. A doule ray extends west for about 100 miles from the pair of craters.

Moon surface photo taken with Lunar Orbiter V

This is a portion of an oblique photograph (top is west) of the lunar surface taken by Lunar Orbiter V on August 10, 1967, when the spacecraft was 60 miles above the lunar surface. This telephoto view shows the elongated crater Messier (lower) and the crater Messier A (top left) at 47 degrees East longitude and 2 degrees South latitude. Messier is about 8 miles long, six miles wide, and about 4,000 feet deep. The material thrown from the crater is readily seen on the floor of the mare (lunar sea) in which both craters are located.

Moon surface photo taken with Lunar Orbiter V

On August 18, 1967, Lunar Orbiter V took this vertical wide angle photograph of the Harbinger Mountains, located at 43 degrees West longitude and 27 degrees North latitude, from an altitude of 83 miles. At the center of the photograph is Rima Prinz I (Prinze Valley I), at the left is Rima Prinze II. Prinze II starts at a crater about 2 miles in diameter and runs north in a channel 40 miles long. The valley is 3,000 feet wide near the head and narrows to about 1,500 feet near the end.

Moon surface photo taken with Lunar Orbiter IV

Hampton, Virginia -- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Lunar Orbiter IV spacecraft completed its photographic survey mission by returning telephoto pictures of 99 percent of the Moon's front face. The broad cross-hatched area on this chart indicates telephoto picture coverage from apolune photography. Arrows A and B at top show regions totaling one percent which were photographed in wide angle but not in telephoto pictures.